


Future Starts Slow

by Shadowkira



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: AU, F/F, Post Finale, hurt comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-27
Updated: 2014-05-29
Packaged: 2018-01-26 17:51:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1697096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowkira/pseuds/Shadowkira
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Root chewed on the inside of her cheek, “I want to infiltrate… And shut them down from inside.”</p><p>"They’ll kill you." Shaw pointed out as she filled Root’s glass halfway.</p><p>"One life for the lives of many… Wouldn’t you do the same?"</p><p>A/N: On hiatus until I see more of the fourth season and how Team Machine is contacting one another. I may also make changes to the first two chapters...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Shaw grunted as she was thrown backward, her ears ringing painfully. She stayed down for a moment, too dazed from the explosion and the force of the blast to realize what was happening. She had just exited the courthouse after Hersh's insistence that she leave the bomb to him and go help Reese rescue Finch and Control instead.

The brunette winced, her hand covering her side as she tried to sit up. A sharp pain was radiating from her torso and she guessed that the cause was a cracked or broken rib.

Her ears were still recovering so she saw the lights of the emergency vehicles before she heard them. Shaw cast one more look toward the courthouse, frowning as she turned to limp away.

Hersh might have tried and almost succeeded in killing her but he was a good agent, a good soldier. And he had been, even in his last moments.If she had to pick, she would want a similar send off.

Shaw wobbled, her legs giving out and her vision fading to black as she crumpled to the ground.

xxx

"Miss Shaw." The woman in question groaned, cracking her eyes open slowly.

"Harold?" 

"Yes, thank goodness you are alright..."

"Right back atcha, Glasses." She said, her voice gravelly as she shot him a crooked smile. "What happened with Collier and Greer?"

Reese appeared suddenly, a thick roll of gauze in hand. "Dead, and gone. Decima was using Vigilance this whole time." 

Shaw's brow furrowed and she watched as the man carefully removed Harold's jacket. "Looks like a through and through... You're lucky. The first time is always the worst." 

The smaller man shot him an incredulous look, " _Lucky?_ There is nothing lucky about this situation, Mr. Reese. Why you would choose a profession like this, I've no idea..." 

Watching the two of them interact made Shaw think of Root and her last conversation with the hacker. It had been a while since they had heard from her, _too long._

As if on cue, a phone suddenly came to life and started ringing incessantly.  

Harold glanced between Reese and Shaw before answering. "Hello?"

_"You all need to leave the library, **now**." _

"Miss Groves?" Shaw perked up slightly and ignored the pain that the action caused her. "I take it that your attempt to shut down Samaritan was unsuccessful? Are you-?"

_"No. It was never about turning it off, it's about **surviving**."_

Shaw narrowed her eyes, listening intently now that the call was on speaker phone. _"-top drawer on the right, everything you need is inside. Leave, now."_

The three exchanged looks as the call went dead before Reese turned to the drawer that Root had referred to. He turned back, three thick yellow envelopes in hand.

There was a small letter scrawled on the back of each and he handed the other two off to their respective owners.

Shaw silently dumped out the contents of her envelope and looked over what was to become her new life.

xxx

Lisa Reed was a nobody.

She was a beautiful woman with a boring, dead end job. She worked the front desk as a receptionist and eye candy for a local recording studio. It was still up and coming but it seemed as though everyone who came through thought that they were the next big _something._

It was painful for Shaw, to constantly force a smile and act like a groupie for majority of the condescending assholes that passed through. 

She had not heard of them prior to their recording and she doubted that she would hear anymore about them, ever again.

That was little consolation to Lisa though, she still had to drink herself into a drunken stupor most nights. It was a cleanse, an attempt to wash away her memory of leering eyes, wandering hands and lewd comments.

Even _she_ would have preferred Shaw's methods, because then maybe, it wouldn't be a daily occurrence.

But Shaw couldn't help, no, she had to lay low. Had to hide her true nature behind an uncomfortable smile and a fake laugh.

The woman shook her head, glancing around the place she had called home for the last month.

It was a fitting apartment for her, stuck somewhere between Lisa's tastes (if she were unfortunate enough to be a real person) and her own.

There were two floors, the top being her main living space. It was an open floor plan containing the living room, dining room and kitchen all with beautiful hard wood floors. There were four large windows that let in plenty of natural light for the rare days that she was home during the day.

A spiral staircase to the left of the entrance lead down to the second floor and the bedroom.

Shaw didn't venture down there very often, only to use the restroom and collect what little clothing was left in the large walk in closet.

The room was like a time capsule and not in a good way.

For some reason the lingering scent of Root's perfume clung to it, reminding her that the hacker had not made contact since the Library.

No one had.

She had not heard anything from anyone in a month, not even the Machine.

Normally she liked the quiet, but not like this. This level of silence left her feeling anxious and empty all at the same time.

She knew that they were all probably laying low, staying safe. But what if they weren't? What if Decima had found them and killed them already?

Shaw tried not to think about that.

The brunette jumped, swearing under her breath as her cell phone went off suddenly. She put down her glass of whiskey to pick up the device, squinting when she realized it was an unknown number.

Shaw answered the phone and remained silent as a familiar but stilted voice recited a number. She grabbed a pen and nearby pad of paper to write it down. 

When the number was said, the voice fell silent but the call stayed connected.

"And here I was thinking I might never hear from you again..." The ex agent mumbled before taking a sip of her drink.

 _"There will always be people to save, Shaw."_  

"That's all you've got to say? No line or jab at my current profession, _Root_?" Shaw had been ready to smirk, she had been ready for some smart ass response but definitely not the one she got.

 _"Analogue Interface not available."_  Instantly came the stilted voice of the Machine.

Shaw froze, her fingers tightening their grip on her phone. "What the hell... What do you mean by _not available_?"

 _"Analogue Interface not available."_ The Machine repeated, in its cold, unsympathetic tone.

"I heard you the first time. What _exactly_ does that mean, where is Root?" 

_"Error. Interface unavailable."_

Shaw swore loudly as the line went dead before dropping her phone to the table with a loud clatter. She glared at the device, confusion and anger coursing through her veins as she tried to process what had just happened.

Her eyes flicked toward the number she had jotted down, figuring that would be the best way to channel her frustration at the moment.

xxx

The number had been pretty straight forward, it was another involving an attempted burglary by a desperate amateur.

Shaw had easily dispatched the man, just like the last time and was now stalking her way home. It had felt good to have a mission again, a _purpose._

The adrenaline and urge to fight was still coursing through her veins though and it was times like these that generally made her seek out a quick fuck. Something rough, just a body to sate her appetite. 

Deciding that such action was the only way she would be able to return to her ruse as Lisa, Shaw moved to cross the quiet street. There as a seedy bar a few blocks down that would suit her needs nicely.

She had barely stepped back onto the sidewalk when a payphone came to life nearby. Narrowing her eyes, the ex agent made sure that the coast was clear before approaching.

The line was silent at first and she nearly hung up when she saw approaching headlights but "Root's" stilted voice finally spoke up and changed her mind.

_"Hop in, Shaw."_

xxx

Shaw was angry and extremely uncomfortable to find that the black car that had picked her up had no driver. To anyone outside of the vehicle, things probably looked pretty normal but not from where she was sitting.

She sat alone and kept a tight grip on her gun. 

The car drove for a while, heading out of the city and into no man's land. She watched as the scenery began to shift, changing to windy mountain roads. Shaw felt more and more uneasy with each passing mile.

About two hours had passed when they finally came to a stop, the vehicle parking itself in the rocky parking lot of what appeared to be an old bar.

She sat still for a moment, checking to make sure that her gun was reloaded before exiting the car.

The front door to the bar, all metal and glass,  was locked tight with thick chains. So, Shaw set her jaw and kept her hand on her gun as she silently made her way around to the back. As she did, she took in the way that the windows were boarded up from the inside, just like the inner door by the front.

There was a small deck in the back, the wood dingy and dirty from misuse.

Shaw flipped open her phone, noting small disturbances in the dirt that gave whoever was living here away. She noticed that they mostly lead straight off of the ramp  up from the stones to one of the doors leading inside from the deck.

Alert and ready for anything, Shaw reached out to pull the rickety looking screen door open. The door behind it was pulled open at the same time and Shaw reacted instantly. She forced the man backward and into the small mud room behind him, her gun pressed painfully to his throat.

_To be continued..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG.
> 
> If you haven't read LHMD Chapter 2, It All Came True then this may be a little confusing. The lines entirely italicized are from that one-shot. Tied in because well, that was sort of the intention when I started this fic... To have them connected. Hopefully that idea translated well into this chapter.

* * *

 

Shaw half expected the man to piss himself as he pressed back into the wall as far as possible, his eyes wide in terror. 

"Woah, hold on a sec! I come in peace!!" He gasped out, "Didn't She tell you?"

Shaw narrowed her eyes, "She _who_?" 

"T-the Machine." He responded quickly, his eyes once again darting down toward her gun. 

Shaw grunted and slowly backed off, watching in mild amusement as he slid off of the wall in relief. Despite the thick, wiry beard on his face, she was pretty sure now that she recognized him. "Jason, right?" 

He shot her an incredulous look, "What the fuck... You _remember_ me?"

"Had to make sure Decima hadn't made you one of their new hires..." Shaw said, eyes peeking into the doorway that lead to the next room. It appeared to be the kitchen. "So, why am I here... Jason?"

"She really didn't tell you..." He said, more to himself as he headed deeper into the building. They passed through the kitchen quickly but Shaw scanned the room as best she could. Based off of all of the dishes in the sink, Jason was either a total slob or he had roommates. 

The building opened up outside of the kitchen into a wide space containing the bar. It was mildly decorated with tech and cords laying here and there. The lights were all off, the only reason Shaw could see any details was the dim glow coming from the two fish tanks on either side of the doorway leading from the kitchen.

They bypassed it all quickly and headed for a closed door just passed the dry bar.

"So, are you going to start talking or are you going to be as enigmatic as the voice that sent me here?"

He frowned and held the door open for her to head down into what appeared to be the basement. "It's Root." 

Shaw glanced back over her shoulder as she made her way down the steps. "She's _here_?" 

"Well, not by choice..." Jason confessed, rubbing at the back of his neck uncomfortably.

Shaw narrowed her eyes but kept quiet as she finished the last couple of steps. She didn't need to ask anyway because the answer was pretty quickly in her line of sight.

Root looked like shit.

The woman was pale and bed ridden, drips and wires coming off of various points of her body to hang over the side of the medical bed. Shaw ignored the other two men in the room and instead approached the hacker's bedside to get a closer look at her and her vitals.

Everything seemed to be normal but it obviously wasn't.

"What the hell happened?" Her voice had come out a little more harshly than she had intended but she wanted answers.

Shaw's eyes shifted from one man to the next, noting how nervous they all seemed. "We found Samaritan." 

"This has something to do with those servers she nabbed, doesn't it?" Shaw asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes." A second man spoke up, "We altered them and then delivered them to the warehouse that Decima was using in New Jersey-"

"Obviously whatever plan you had worked out flawlessly..." Shaw muttered, her tone heavy with sarcasm.

"We weren't supposed to go in with her... But she would have died if we hadn't." Jason was speaking now but he made no attempt to bring her gaze away from Root. "She was shot, lost a lot of blood... The Machine made contact when we were done installing the servers and told us to come here. She called Root a trust worthy doctor who took care of her until about a week ago..."

"Why'd they stop care?" Shaw asked, her tone turning angry again.

"She- She's been in a coma since the second day... He said that it wasn't worth the money to keep wasting his time." The second man answered, his eyes downcast.

"Why didn't you call _me_?" 

"She wanted to wait until you had some time off... So that it wasn't suspicious." Jason answered, "And we weren't exactly given your contact information... So, we've been doing our best to take care of her in the meantime."

Shaw nodded but remained silent. It made sense, they didn't want to blow her cover but she still wished that she could have been in the loop. Maybe the Machine and Root trusted these guys but she didn't. She didn't even _know_ them.

"Get out." She said, keeping her back to them. She completely missed the three of them exchanging looks and the protective look of annoyance that crossed Jason's features.

Shaw didn't care, all she saw was Root. And her own annoyance seeped out of her body when the men's footsteps faded and the door leading down to the basement was pulled shut.

xxx

Shaw stared at the unconscious woman, her chest feeling heavy and tight. Root's still, ashen features were nothing like her expressiveness while awake. She was ironically being kept alive by tubes and wires, by a _machine_. Shaw felt sick, she could feel the nausea bubbling at the base of her throat.

She knew that when Root had called them as they were searching the dark streets of a blacked out New York that something was off. She should have known that the hacker wouldn't have been so preoccupied with a power outage. 

She had trusted her, she had hoped that Root would ask if she needed help.

Instead the she had been off playing hero with some ragtag group of stray boys she had collected on her missions and failed to mention. Well, she didn't know two of them and she had only met Jason because she was there the day Root saved him.

He wasn't a fighter, so she doubted that the other two were, either.

Shaw stood back up, moving to grab the medical chart that had been hung at the base of the bed. Her eyes scanned the information, flipping back to the first page. 

She could feel anger building in her gut and it only got worse when her eyes swept over the details of what had happened that second day. Root's recently strained heart had not handled her injury well and there had been complications resuscitating her.

Shaw's grip tightened on the clip board as Control's haughty smirk flashed in her mind. She wanted to throw something, _break something_. Instead, she grit her teeth as she hung the medical chart back on the bed frame. 

If she broke anything in this room, it could spell disaster for her bed ridden friend. By the looks of it, they only had a limited and dwindling supply of what they would need to keep Root alive.

xxx

"We're going to need more wood for the stove." Daniel said as he straightened back up from a kneeling position. 

Jason nodded and was just about to rise from his seat when Shaw came bursting through the basement door. "I've got it." 

Daniel and Jason exchanged looks, the latter turning after her. "The wood and everything else is by the shed in the back-" The back door was slammed shut before he could finish but he guessed that she had gotten the point.

"Is she always like that?" Daniel asked with a small frown, the other man shook his head.

"I've got no idea... Barely saw her last time." 

xxx

Shaw grunted, bringing the maul down heavily into the block of wood she was working on. The blunt blade broke the wood apart with a loud crack, cleaving the the solid piece into two smaller halves.

She had been at it for about fifteen minutes. A light sheen of sweat clung to her arms and forehead. Her jacket had quickly been abandoned and was hung on the door of the shed nearby. 

There was something gratifyingly therapeutic in the splintering of the wood as the maul cut through it. And the burning in her arms left her feeling like she had actually accomplished something which was more than she could manage if she were still inside. 

Shaw glanced down at the wood laying on either side of her, deciding that they probably had more than enough for the stove at this point. 

She dropped the maul to the dirt before stalking over to the porch and sitting down on the ramp. The cool air immediately rushed over her damp skin, soothing whatever residual anger was left until it slipped down into the back of her mind.

Shaw sat in silence for several minutes, enjoying the quiet until the door opened behind her. 

Jason and Daniel moved around her and down the ramp to collect the wood and take it inside. The third guy, who still hadn't said a word, paused behind her. Shaw didn't like it and turned to confront him. Her eyes widened slightly when she did,  surprised to find a beer dangling in her face.

"Thanks." She mumbled, accepting it from him with very little hesitation. If they were taking care of Root in her condition, she doubted that they would try anything with her. And her mouth and throat were nearing on painfully dry.

He nodded but didn't respond, leaning on the railing instead to watch his friends as they came back toward them.  It took the two men several trips to get all of the wood inside and by the time they were done, Shaw was almost done with her beer.

She heard the door open again from behind them and Daniel approached with his own beer in hand. He frowned when his lingering presence caused Daizo to head silently inside.

"Sorry about that..." Daniel said before taking a sip of his beer. "He's still learning English and he hasn't really spoken since..."

He trailed off but Shaw knew exactly what he was referring to.

"I like the quiet." She said with a shrug, "He shouldn't be mute because of what happened though... It's not like it's his fault."

Daniel sighed and moved closer, thumbing the edge of the label on his bottle. "It might not be but that doesn't mean he doesn't think it is." 

Shaw arched a brow and glanced back over her shoulder toward him. 

"We... We were the only two here when it happened. Jason always made the run into the city to get the Doctor, they were on their way back... It all happened so fast." He shook his head, his thumb and forefinger squeezing the bridge of his nose as he continued. "We managed to get her back.... But she never woke up."

Shaw stared at him blankly for a second before finishing her beer and rising to her feet. "It happens. Even to trained professionals."

She paused beside him, handing him her empty bottle and ignoring his slightly incredulous look. "Where's the shower?"

"I'll show you..." Daniel said, sighing before heading inside with Shaw not far behind.

xxx

The shower and bedrooms were all on the second floor, the stairs leading up to them toward the front of the building by the chained up doors. 

"Here are some clothes and a towel... Sorry, this is all we've got. We sort of thought She was going to fill you in." 

Shaw stared down at the neatly folded stack of clothes in his hands, most likely Daizo's. The man was the shortest of the three and his clothes would fit her the best.

"It's fine. Men's underwear are more comfortable anyway." She said, closing the door in his face.

"There's a spare bedroom for you at the end of the hallway." Daniel said, through the door. Sounding more than a little annoyed by her rude behavior. 

Shaw didn't bother responding, she had no intention of sleeping in some spare room on the second floor. She planned on spending her night down in the basement with Root.

She glanced around, taking in her new surroundings. The bathroom was nice enough, much cleaner than what she had seen of the downstairs.

Shaw quickly stripped out of her damp clothing and turned the water on to the warmest setting. She climbed inside, gritting her teeth as the hot water hit her already aching muscles. 

xxx

The building was quiet and dark when Shaw finally emerged from the bathroom, the boys having already tucked themselves away in their respective rooms. She made her way back downstairs, using her cellphone for light rather than bothering to turn one on in the hallway.

It wasn't long before she found herself down in the basement, face to face with Root. 

Shaw stared for a moment, her eyes moving over Root's motionless features.

She started to move then, checking Root's stats to ensure nothing had changed. It hadn't.

Shaw uncovered the other woman's body, bunching the sheet up at the end of the bed. Root's skin looked pale, lifeless and it was cool to the touch.

Shaw brushed her fingers over the other woman's, her eyes flicking between Root's hand and face as she looked for a reaction. Nothing. The hacker's nails were still painted black but the paint was chipped and dull. 

She held Root's hand with her own, massaging down the length of her arm with the other. Shaw paid extra attention to the back of Root's arm, and shoulder where the skin had most of its contact with the mattress. She guessed that the boys knew to shift her so that she didn't develop pressure sores but there was more than one spot she found already that could become problematic. 

Sighing, Shaw continued to gently work the muscles, bringing a more full blood flow back into the limb. After a few moments, she adjusted her methods to lifting and flexing Root's arm to ensure that her joints didn't get stiff.

When she was satisfied she had stimulated the limb enough, she moved onto the leg on the same side. She tried to keep her mind on task, ignoring the fact that if Root were able, she would no doubt have a lot to say about their current situation.

Shaw paused, watching as goose bumps spread out across the flesh of the other woman's leg. While it was positive to see a response to her touch, it was likely that it meant nothing. Despite that knowledge, she stood still and watched as they lingered before slowly fading back into smooth skin.

_Sameen's eyebrow twitched as she watched goosebumps blossom in the wake of her touch, knowing full well that they weren’t from the cold. The expression faded quickly though, as she trailed her fingertips up over the other woman’s collar bone before heading down her left arm._

Shaw swallowed, trying to ignore the anger slowly building in her gut.

 _"Why'd you stop? That felt nice..."_  

"You fucking idiot." Shaw whispered, releasing Root's leg to grip the bed frame nearby. It creaked under the weight of her hand but she failed to notice.

Root's number had come up, weeks ago. They had thought it was a fluke, they had gotten it more than once, actually. The hacker always came back virtually unscathed, smiling her smile. It was bright and all teeth or smug and confident as usual. 

Shaw had even gotten to go on some of her missions, seeing first hand some of the dangers Root faced on a daily basis. 

She had been there when Root found the servers, she was there to shoot the Decima agent that had put his site on the hacker. Shaw pushed the thought away, her anger growing as she did. She ran a hand through her still damp hair, exhaling slowly. 

It helped, a little and she moved back toward the medical bed to work on the other woman's left side. 

She tried to keep her emotions out of her touch as she started the same exercises, her anger slowly seeping from her as she massaged the the muscles beneath her fingers.

Shaw's eyes narrowed when she reached Root's hand and it flexed, fingers weakly holding her own before slipping back open. 

"Root?" She asked, glancing up toward the bedridden woman's face. Her expression was neutral and still. 

Shaw's frown deepened and she kept her eyes on the other woman, her right hand shifting so that the tip of Root's thumb was between her thumb and forefinger. She squeezed slightly, pushing the nail into the nail bed. 

Root's eyes shifted beneath her eyelids and her brow creased but the reaction was brief. It flashed across her features before they once again went still. 

Shaw relaxed her grip and straightened up slightly, these signs were all positive but she wasn't optimistic. It was too soon for that. 

She glanced toward the machines monitoring Root's vitals, seeing a small spike that correlated with the reactions she had just witnessed.  

All of these responses could merely be forced memory, a simple reflex of the body. It didn't mean that Root was any more conscious or aware. Shaw swallowed at the thought that the woman before her was really nothing more than a shell. An empty vessel.

She swallowed at the thought, the _possibility_  that Root was as good as dead already.

_"One life for the lives of many…"_

Shaw's jaw flexed and she sat down, the bed creaking under her weight. She stared at Root, trying to ignore the slow rage burning in the pit of her stomach. Something else was growing with it, nausea she noted silently.

It twisted and churned and her hand tightened instinctively, crushing the sheet between her fingers.

_"You'll die." Sameen said, struggling to keep her eyes focused._

_"I would die for you." Root said softly, "I would die to keep that much power out of the hands of someone who would misuse it. It isn't just us in danger, Sameen. It is everyone."_

_She leaned down and brushed her lips against the other woman's forehead. "I am sorry. Goodbye, Sameen."_


End file.
